(Portland, OR)  --  A new SurveyUSA poll shows big gains for GOP candidate Dennis Richardson in the Oregon governor's race.  The poll, commissioned by KATU-TV, shows Democratic incumbent John Kitzhaber is preferred by 38 percent of those questioned, while 37 percent support Richardson.  But the survey also shows that 18 percent of those who were going to vote for Kitzhaber plan to switch their votes to Richardson.  Kitzhaber's fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, has been surrounded by controversy since she revealed she was paid five-thousand dollars to participate in a sham marriage in the 1990s to help an Ethiopian man gain citizenship.